3 posts from November 2006

November 14, 2006

Here is Silicon Valley the hot buzz word is Web 2.0. Being a techie turned mommyblogger allows me to participate in one of the contributing Web 2.0 technologies (blogging). As Web 1.0 was static web pages, Web
2.0 changed the nature of web usage to interaction and social networks. With
a wave of 2006 election information coming my way over email messages
and flyers in the mail, I find myself
turning to blogs to observe their views on the issues. That led me to wonder if blogging has become the second generation of grassroots activism. Where
grassroots 1.0 consisted of static information published
by volunteer organizations, news outlets and politicians, does
grassroots 2.0 now includes networks of citizen journalists who blog to start
on-line conversations on political issues?

When I was single (let's just say in the late 80's, early 90's), I
felt a responsibility to participate in the political process. With
whatever time I could fit into my work schedule I joined community
relations boards, assisted with letter writing campaigns, made phone
calls to support candidates, went to community discussions to speak my
mind on relevant issues and even attended a California Democratic
Convention representing my local district. The process was laborious
but was the only way to reach people. The main goal was person to
person contact to discuss or inform voters on issues.

Now that I am a Mom, I don't have any time to volunteer on campaigns
or even read all of the flyers, newspaper articles and political emails
that come my way. I am getting more information then I have in many
years from reading blogs (Huffington Post, DailyKos, Wonkette, BlogHer, posts from my fellow contributors at svmoms) and community action requests from myfellow bloggers, like Stefania from Citymama.
The grassroots 1.0 concept centered on individuals reaching out to the
community to disseminate information. The reason that blogging is such
a natural step for grassroots politics is that anyone in the community
can have a blog, bloggers tend to be more outspoken, blogging is a
discussion so the comments allow others to add their views to issues
and it is a quick way to get information if the blogger or blogger
community shares your ideals. Jeneane Sessum wrote a great post for BlogHer
about using blogging to promote business which I think also make
blogging a great platform for political discussions. The points listed
below are notes for her discussion on a business blogging panel:

"The first point I want to make is that "Blogs are conversations,"
and what that means is that as a blogger you are ALWAYS talking to
someone--hopefully MORE than some one but some days it seems like an
audience of one. Conversation means you are actually talking to other
human beings, not just to yourself.

With that conversation comes a responsibility. Good blogging brings
a responsibility to be genuine--authentic--and honest. That doesn't
mean you can't tell stories or that you can't ever use poetic license.
It means that if you lie and try to cover it up, you will never present
your business in a way that doesn't ring true because 1of 2 things will
happen: 1) you will be left unread at best, 2) you’ll be outed and
mercilessly ridiculed at worst."

And NO ONE makes fun of people better than bloggers. So big rule of
good blogging is to be who you are. It's easier and more effective than
pretending. Be human. Be MORE than your business is. Don't be afraid to
hold a point of view you believe in.

I find it refreshing to read blogs because most are honest and
authentic. It is true that blogs are written by citizen journalists and
the fact checking is not the same as in the newspapers. But I would
take honest views over all of the mis-information being passed out from
some political campaigns.

Some people and organizations have already figured this out and are reaching out to the blogging community. When the Silicon Valley Moms Blog met with Elizabeth Edwards,
I was impressed with her honesty. She was authentically interested in
meeting mommybloggers and understanding their thoughts and issues.
Elizabeth Edwards is also web savvy and has utilized the Internet to
join communities for breast cancer and for grief support. Her husband
John Edward's One America Committee has a section specifically for bloggers to create a community. This is a great example of grassroots 2.0, they get it.

Elizabeth Edwards asked a question during our meeting with that
showed her blogging savvy: "Does blogging translate to change?".
Stated another way, does a blogger's expression of opinion translate to
grassroots call to action?

I would like to answer that by saying "yes". I have received numerous call to actions on rallies and phone calls from my fellow contributorsand blogging social network.
Instead of an email from someone I don't know, these emails carry more
weight with me. instead of receiving a flyer in the mail, I get to read
the views of others I know and respect to help me decide which way to
vote. Since my kids were sick this week I not go to the rallies, I
accepted that call to action by sending emails to my friends on the
issues that matter to me. That is why grassroots 2.0 is great for Moms,
it can be done at home fter the kids go to sleep.

November 09, 2006

Because
I am a mommyblogger, and a self-proclaimed citizen journalist, I knew
that I had to attempt some sort of live blogging for Election Day 06.
But for mommybloggers, that means blogging live after all the kids go
to bed and have stopped running out of their room to say they don't
want to go to sleep. Which is 9:30pm. Oh and after you have prepared
your kids lunch, set out their clothes for school the next day, taken a
shower to get rid of the mud collected from the day and changed into
your pajamas. Which is 10:00pm.

So I started my own live blogging experience at 10:00pm pst the
night of the Election 06, which gave time for all of the results to
come in. As I have said before, I am a Democrat so it was an exciting
night for me. I decided that my live blogging moment would be after the
number of house seats moves to a majority (218 seats). I set my TV on
CNN because they had the results displayed on the bottom of the screen
and I had read in a post by Sarah that they also had a blog party. So I watched the CNN blog party.

I learned from the AMERICAblog pictures
that cool blogger chicks wear jeans and black tops. Good to know what I
need to wear when I am invited to a liveblogger party.

I learned that it was ok that I was not invited to the party
because I ended up falling asleep for 20 minutes with my hands on the
keyboard. That did not seem to hurt my live blogging. Moms need their
sleep.

From the Wonkette banner I thought that there was a real Wonkette chick and she was cool. That night I saw a picture of Alex Pareene (the editor), and realized that I was mis-lead! He is a guy. But that is ok, because he is a funny guy.

They had their predictions , mine were more simple (Democrats to win, I did not care by how much).

"Wolf
Blitzer knew where the real action was, ohhhh party blog style, ladies
post free after 7pm. Yes, appartently partying blog style means typing
on a laptop while not partying, at one point a blogger was being
interviewed about blogging while watching herself being interviewed
about blogging. I wonder if she will blog about that?"

I finally got my live blogging moment at 11:00pm pst when it was final that democrats gained a majority in the house and Nancy Pelosi was in the position to be the first female speaker of the house. It was a moment worth the wait, even though I was not at the party. That night I emailed CityMama because I knew she would be live blogging (and she was). Maybe mommybloggers should have their own blog party for the next election. That is, if we can get babysitting.

November 07, 2006

I was still so disgusted by the Florida voting debacle where problems with the dimple, chad and butterfly ballots
threw off the election, that I decided this year I would be completely
paperless. And my life is so busy as a mom, who has time to keep track
of the paper documents anyway. So I set off on my first adventure with
a paperless election process. llll

I put all pieces of paper campaign advertisements straight into the recycle bin.

Most exciting of all, I decided to try the new eSlate machine to vote instead of the paper ballots.

And I finally found a voter guide that agreed with all of my own opinions in a post from our blog. I emailed that to myself so I could view that guide from my blackberry while I was voting (instead of filling out the form sent in the mail with the sample ballot).

I went to the polls this morning armed with my blackberry and
determined to try the new E-voting (eSlate) machine. If a techie mom
can't use that machine, then who can? I saw other people waiting in
line look at the eslate machine and then choose the old fashioned
ballot instead. The machine was under a tarp and it did look ominous. I
wondered what goes on under the tarp? Once I tell the registrants that
I will be using the machine there is no turning back, so will I be able
to use it?

I gathered my courage and told them I would use the machine. The
other people in line stared at me like I was crazy. The man behind the
desk handed me an instruction manual which just added more stress to
what I was already feeling. I said, "I used to be a programmer and
programmers NEVER read manuals so I will just see what happens. Anyway,
I did look over the instructions on-line". He gave me a confused look but allowed me to move on to the "machine".

The eSlate machine has a screen on the top that looks very similar
to the paper ballots and some buttons on the bottom. I played for a
second and realized that I only really needed to use a select wheel that took me from field to field and the enter button to select. There were even previousand next buttons to move backwards and forwards if you wanted to go back and make a change (really cool). I used the select wheel to move through all the selections, and used the enter
button to make my selection. The current field is also highlighted in
red so it is easy to spot. When you are done, it lists all of your
choices and allows you to review them (and make changes if needed)
before you hit the cast ballot button which is final. I reviewed my choices and hit cast ballot. I found the experience easier then I thought it would be. And there is a paper trail to
view while voting, a printer is installed in the eslate that prints the
ballot while you are reviewing your on line summary.

Afterwards I read that some machines had system problems. I did not see any at our voting station, but Sarah said in her post
that there is still a chance that the vote recorded may not be the same
as the vote printed (cast) so it is up to each voter to verify their
votes. And she also suggested joining the Verified Voting Foundation.
With all of that in mind, this mom will still take system problems and
voting verification over chad, dimpled, or butterfly ballot problems
anytime.

Are there any other Moms who would like to share their voting adventures, paperless or paper-filled?